An update and ecological perspective on certain sentinel helminth endoparasites within the Mediterranean Sea

Autor: Marialetizia Palomba, Erica Marchiori, Perla Tedesco, Marialetizia Fioravanti, Federica Marcer, Andrea Gustinelli, Renato Aco-Alburqueque, Beatrice Belli, Daniele Canestrelli, Mario Santoro, Paolo Cipriani, Simonetta Mattiucci, Rudi Cassini, Laura Rinaldi
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2023
Předmět:
Zdroj: Parasitology, Vol 150, Pp 1139-1157 (2023)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 00311820
0031-1820
1469-8161
48181714
DOI: 10.1017/S0031182023000951
Popis: The Mediterranean Sea is recognized as a marine biodiversity hotspot. This enclosed basin is facing several anthropogenic-driven threats, such as seawater warming, pollution, overfishing, bycatch, intense maritime transport and invasion by alien species. The present review focuses on the diversity and ecology of specific marine trophically transmitted helminth endoparasites (TTHs) of the Mediterranean ecosystems, aiming to elucidate their potential effectiveness as ‘sentinels’ of anthropogenic disturbances in the marine environment. The chosen TTHs comprise cestodes and nematodes sharing complex life cycles, involving organisms from coastal and marine mid/upper-trophic levels as definitive hosts. Anthropogenic disturbances directly impacting the free-living stages of the parasites and their host population demographies can significantly alter the distribution, infection levels and intraspecific genetic variability of these TTHs. Estimating these parameters in TTHs can provide valuable information to assess the stability of marine trophic food webs. Changes in the distribution of particular TTHs species can also serve as indicators of sea temperature variations in the Mediterranean Sea, as well as the bioaccumulation of pollutants. The contribution of the chosen TTHs to monitor anthropogenic-driven changes in the Mediterranean Sea, using their measurable attributes at both spatial and temporal scales, is proposed.
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals